News & Stories
Munich. With a financing model for sustainable hotel real estate, Siemens Financial Services certainly drew attention at the Expo Real in Munich at the beginning of October. The initiative is primarily directed at international chains looking to achieve their sustainability targets. Since hotel operating companies have particular difficulty in finding investors for hotel real estate conceived with sustainability in mind, the financial arm of the Siemens group is the first to offer the hospitality industry its support: It also intends to participate with operating cost reduction measures.
London. Today, no business can afford to dispense with sustainability. This is the belief of InterContinental Hotels Group from London. According to the group, attitude is the greatest challenge here. Attitude should not be driven by commercial or financial aspects but regarded holistically. A responsible business contributes to the satisfaction of the guests and to the increase in profits. The balancing act of the hotel industry is to operate hotels efficiently without accepting compromises concerning the guests' services or experiences. In IHG's programme, this commitment is called "Green Engage."
Salzburg. In Austria, electric vehicles have become a subject in holiday resorts. In Werfenweng near Salzburg, electric vehicles add to a welcome change in holiday resorts. For the arrival in the soft mobile vacation, the "largest electric vehicle," the train, is still the ultimate. However, at a discussion in Seefeld, BMW also saw room for its Mini E.
Paris. Accor has engaged in sustainability for almost two decades. The French hotel group is thus one of the pioneers in this field. In the course of time, the group has broadened the scope of the issue substantially to include corporate social responsibility. Its programme has been called "Earth Guest" since 2006. In April 2012, the group started its new global "Planet 21" strategy. The title refers to Agenda 21, a programme signed in Rio de Janeiro back in 1992 defining the most urgent concerns of the 21st century: in order to maintain the ecological systems of this planet, the habitat of human life, production and consumption methods need to be changed. A compact summary outlines the extensive Accor concept in the following.
Vienna/Freiburg. The starting shot for the green hotel network "Sleep Green": Five forerunners in environmental protection from Austria and Germany have joined forces to provide their guests with environmentally-friendly accommodation.
Madrid. The Spanish hotel chain, NH Hoteles, has very recently had its Environment Management System certified according to ISO 14001 in the German-speaking realm. In 2008, the group implemented its company-wide environmental plan and has been continuously working on its improvement. The primary focuses are energy efficiency, ecological design and waste management. They train staff members through eLearning and inspire interested customers through an interactive website, among other things. The chain has already been publishing a separate sustainability report for the past six years.
Hamburg. European real estate investors are seeking to put their sustainability activities on a broader footing. Today’s "green” strategies address the entire real estate portfolio.
Brussels. The subject of sustainability has developed from the smiled-upon activity of individuals to a mega-trend within the industry. The most important reason: Its sound implementation is significantly reflected in the company's success. Particularly for stock exchange listed chains, "sustainability" has become a firm standard. Therefore and beginning today, hospitalityInside.com is providing the strategies of global players on the matter of environmental protection and social responsibility in their core. To begin: The Rezidor Group. Their Scandinavian roots are of benefit to this subject: The staff members have already been carrying the concepts since the beginning of the nineties. In its core, the group-wide measures concentrate upon energy-saving measures at the individual hotels, on training and upon communication with customers. The group maintains the social and local touch through an annual campaign month worldwide.
Hamburg. At the end of June, Hamburg's tourism industry awarded six businesses with the Green Globe sustainability certificate. Hamburg Tourismus GmbH is the first certified tourism-marketing organisation in Europe.
Zurich. The Swiss hotel group Moevenpick has set itself a high goal: it wants to become the hotel business with the most "Green Globe" certificates in the world. Due to a sophisticated strategy, the group has nearly achieved its goal. Already at the ITB 2012, Moevenpick's COO Ola Ivarsson was able to announce the awarding of all 21 hotels in Europe by the certification institute. "We worked very hard," he said, and he adds: "The positive reactions and our staff's commitment were enormous." The sustainability programme of Moevenpick is based on the three pillars "environment", "social aspects" and "staff". The explicit inclusion of the staff is new in this way.